What a few months we have had!  First floods and now Foot and Mouth (again), we are just very grateful that the “powers that be” have been organised this time around and appear to be handling this outbreak efficiently and professionally.  Our sympathy goes to the farmers affected.
 
We were lucky with the flooding in July as well, although the rain fall was high and water logging has caused problems for us, we have not seen the flooding that many have this year. 
 
Our concerns were primarily for the Sheep, as clipping became a real headache, the poor sheep where beginning to suffer with the heat and flies.  But we managed to get them clipped about 5 weeks late.  The fleeces are probably worthless because of their condition, but the price that we get for the wool is a joke anyway, so we put it down as a management exercise rather than a profitable one.
 
We have also managed to finish first cut silage as well as our second cut, we were very lucky with the weather, but unlucky with Simon’s mower, which did not appreciate being asked to mow a branch that had fallen from a tree in the storms of July.  In the tall grass it is impossible to see branches until you are on top of them and then it is too late.  Fortunately we are insured so that is one less headache.
 
A new addition to our family is a puppy called ‘Gem’, we are hoping she will make a good sheep/cow dog, her parents are both working dogs and she is showing good progress at rounding up the 4 hens in our garden.  
 
We are keeping faith that she won’t be as bad as ‘Meg’, our older sheep dog, who has a tendency to divide the flock, taking the smaller group into a distance corner - away from the intended exit route we had planned on taking!  Hence the reason why her pet name is ‘Split ‘em’!!! 
 
Our Farm Assurance inspection went well, so we are good for another year.  We also enter our second year of conversion in a fortnight... how time flies.
 
The month ahead... Harvesting the winter wheat and then harvest the oats and beans.